Essay question. Training before an ironman is the preferred option. Discuss.
For those of you who do not know let me fill you in on my ironman preparation.
Actions and achievements leading up to Ironman SouthAfrica .
Late December 2009 and early January 2010.
Rode up Mt Donna Buang twice in one morning
Rode nearly 800kms in a week, including round the bay twice
Pb in Olympic distance race by some 7 mins including a 45 min 10k, unheard of!
Swimming well at new squad with new coach, adopting total immersion swimming method had almost totally eliminated by back related issue - fantastic
Alpine classic 200k - more climbing than one man should ever have to endure, lifted my not insubstantial frame through almost 4000 vertical metres. Followed that two days later with a 2.20 ascent of Mt Hotham.
In the form of my life hitting all my targets, but then hitting a car. Oops.
Lying on the tarmac I felt my left shoulder as it was numb, collar bone, or part of it pointing directly skyward, the words that come out my mount to the guy who hit me? How the fuck do I do my ironman now? He looked bemused.
So to make a long story short here is the woman' weekly version of my 12 week journey from tarmac to start line.
First surgery to implant a plate and hook device which aligns my twice broken bone and totally destroyed ac joint.
After three weeks of enormous pain and non - closure of the wound (with phone calls to my unconcerned surgeon) discover my metal plate came with a free staph infection. Have had some minor ability to train on the indoor bike and elliptical trainer I hired, maybe 10 hours in the three weeks.
Second surgery, had lost all function in my arm due to the infection I did not know about at the time so freaking out. Wound is left open for two days while in hospital to clean the infection. Go home and on doctors advice stop antibiotics 10 days post surgery. The following day, total disaster, loss of arm function and pain goes nuts again; infection flares up so badly it ruptures the surgery scar. Phone doctor and am told he can see me in three days, I inform his receptionist that I can now see my implant and the scar has split, a space opens up in three hours. In summary the implant is infected and cannot be cured without removal, which can only be done in early may. I now have a new doctor.
I regained use of my arm to a reasonable extent three weeks before we were due to fly, four weeks pre ironman but 8 weeks of no movement had screwed the muscles of the shoulder. I could not swim or run at all as the imbalances and maltracking in the joint caused all sorts of pain. So me and my physio set about an aggressive program of him torturing me, slowly the pain reduced and movement improved. I did not go near the pool for fear of finding out I still could not swim; I convinced myself I was doing it to let my arm heal, that was a lie. I was able to cycle so accompanied Joey on some rides, up to five hours, so I knew my base fitness had not gone completely but the rides exhausted me. I then conducted a self imposed fitness test. The Friday before we departed I went to the pool. The deal was, if I could swim a bit (1km) I would ship my bike and hope for further improvement. I managed 1.2km. The bike went in its bag. Did I have any idea how the hell I was going to manage the swim or the run? No but after standing in my garage (gym) looking at my Port Mac medal I was working purely on either measured confidence in the past 5 years training or complete denial of the fact people cannot do ironman races if they miss the final 12 weeks of training. Let's pretend it was the former. I research the impact of doing ironman while taking high dose antibiotics, find one article on Google that says to stop taking them before the race, I cannot do this, the article does not say why to stop or what might happen if you don't. Must mean there is no risk then if nothing is mentioned.... Right?
Joey and me got toSouth Africa
I start the swim if I can swim one lap of the course the Friday before the race.
I start the second lap of the swim if my arm still functions!
I start the bike if my arm is not too sore.
I start the run if my arm is not too sore.
At any sign of infection flare up. Stop
At any sign of kidney or liver dysfunction. Stop
Any sign of unconsciousness. Stop. (Not really, keep going)
We aimed to swim everyday before the race, we arrived the Monday before. On our first trip down to the beach we met someS.A.
Next three days, all the usual stuff. Bike and bag check, lots of cake and coffee (our sa friends drink about 18 cups a day) lots of carbs and lots of rest, I felt my 12 week taper needed topping up.
Race morning, 4am start with breakfast being muffins and honey. 5.15 the guys pick us up to take us to the start, it is 2km down the road and calories are not to be wasted.
We arrive at transition and finalise our bike set up, drop special needs bags and suit up, all to the sound to Zulu drums, yes the kind that 100 years ago sent you looking for a friendly lion to dispatch you quickly, big booming drums with the entire town to send us off, no joke the crowd was massive. We say our good lucks to our new friends and head to the beach with 1800 hopefuls. Make that 1799 hopefuls and me, I don't know how I felt, not scared, not hopeful, very calm actually. Strange really. One final hug and kiss from Joey and the cannon goes off. Everyone runs for the water, I do not, I walk, I am not going to win and I cannot risk my arm taking a pasting.
I have decided to swim with a four stroke breath pattern, reason being that I cannot swim hard with that pattern and I cannot afford to stress my shoulder. So I am off, no pain, easy pace, breathe every four. Get to the first buoy; have caught a load of people who clearly see swimming only as a necessary evil and the water is pretty rough so causing some issues. I arrive at the same time as Joey into the mêlée of bodies and careful get round the turn, first person to hit my left arm will get my right fist in their head, I am very twitchy. Anyway no issues so head up the long stretch of the swim, some 800m against the current.
No pain, easy pace, breath every four graduates to some pain, easy pace breath every four by the end of the first lap, I am out the water for the short beach run(walk) in 37mins, not too bad, a 1.14 swim would amazing given everything. Back in the water and I am by no means last so feeling good but arm is starting to throb a bit.
Some pain, easy pace breath every four then graduates to pain, easy pace breath every four which by the last 800m transforms into oh shit, arm won't work, breath every two. With 800m to go my left arm was failing to get above the water on about half of my recovery strokes and it hurt. Not too much hurt but the poor muscles were screaming for mercy and I was not being merciful. Anyway, made it to the beach. 1hour 25, could have been a great deal worse. The arm felt ok...ish. One major problem I am hypothermic. And 18c swim in a short sleeve wetty is usually not a problem for me, I soon warm up by swimming hard but if you can't swim hard you can't warm up and I was shivering uncontrollable as I head up the beach. I grab my bag and head into the tent. My left arm is too weak to be of any use getting my wetty off so I get some help from the volunteer. They frantically unpack my bag for me; I calm them down by telling them I intend to have a bit of a sit down before heading on the bike. I have my cycle vest in the bag and put it on to help warm me up, get my shoes on and stuff my gels in the pockets of my sexy suit along with antibiotics, caffeine and panadol. I get to my bike, still shivering, me - cold - unheard of! I must be going soft or something.
So onto the bike, the course is brilliant, split into good sized sections that break it up. 13km of gentle climbing, 11kms of undulations to the turnaround starting with a 2 or 3km decent (60kph on my aerobars, thankyou), 5kms back on yourself then 5kms down to the coast through some nice towns. Then a long stretch back to town along the coast. Easy to get your head around I thought. So my race plan was to stay in heart rate zone 1 or 2. And that I did apart from on the first climb, allowed to get to zone 3 to keep a bit of pace.
First lap of the bike was great, warmed up thank god, took my vest off after the first go up the climb and tucked it into the bands holding my aerobottle on, felt very clever for thinking of that. Stayed on my bars for the whole first lap until km 54. Then, as you would expect if you puncture a tyre that is at 200psi, I heard a bang and a hiss from my back wheel. Arse. But hey that is why you carry a spare. I had a bit of a chuckle to myself, had to happen didn't it, my luck for this race is just not there. Anyway just as I finish changing the tyre the mechanic truck turns up. Thankfully they have a pump, I would ruin my shoulder trying to get the tyre to pressure. So I am off again, and cruising back into town. Sitting on 29-30 so very happy. The climb on the second lap is easy, bit of tail wind, notice a vast amount of people on very expensive bikes who are sitting up off their bars, full disc and all that and I am going past them. I thought I was lining myself up for a 7hr ride on a 5hr bike but these guys were truly taking the piss. Complete the second lap on 4hr 40mins or so, very happy since I was not pushing at all. Last lap - oh my god - there are people out here who have done their dash at about 130km, I had just popped some caffeine (and some antibiotics, right on schedule) so was feeling perky. I spend the next 40km or so just saying to myself repeatedly - glad I'm not you mate - some shocking states barely able to turn the pedals. I have not noticed my shoulder at all during the ride other than shifting up and down off my bars but I was in for a nasty surprise when I cruised into T2. I got off the bike and as is stood up fully I realised my shoulder was almost stuck in the cycle position and as it was allowing my arm to drop to my side the pain was pretty intense, like muscles were tearing on the way down. Not very encouraging. I manage to lower my arm to my side with the least amount of whinging possible and get along to collect my bag. I sit in the tent nursing my arm, it won't move and hurts like a bastard. I get some ice and sit for 15mins hoping it will calm down. It does, a little bit, I know I am not seeing any signs the infection has flared and I have peed about 4 time ( on the side of the road not in my pants by the way) so kidneys etc are all good. I think to myself, you cannot run with this arm, amputation will be tricky and you might not make the cut off if the surgery takes too long, but how will you feel in 8 hours time when the gun goes for the cut off and you know you can walk the marathon in around 7. So I get up, walk to sunscreen people and get myself sunscreen up.
I am on the run course and in big trouble. I cannot get my arm in a position that stops it feeling like I have a knife in my back, it is really bad. I end up with my arm tucked into my suit at chest level, like I am clutching my heart but on the wrong side. It hurts, I am not in a good mood. What the hell am I going to do. I try to get a sling at the first aid station but no joy. I walk past a bunch of younger guys watching, one of them says to me, "hey bud, that heart burn must be a bitch" all his mates laugh, I turn to him, take my arm out of the suit and show him the now bloodied dressing on surgery wound and reply, "not really but the broken collar bone sort of stings" he does not reply but one of the previously laughing crowd tells him he is a prick. I am not in a good mood I am going to have to stop and very soon. I have made it 4km and am deciding when to pull the pin, pain is too much. I decide I will at least wait till I see Joey and so I do about a minute latter, she cries and gives me a hug, she is flying and I am so proud of her, I see the sign for the special needs bag. I then use my entire allocation of inspiration for the next three years. I can make my long sleeve top into a sling! The big problem is I cannot support my elbow, so take the weight of the arm. I get my bag am pull off the side of the run. Get my top out and put my stuffed arm into one of the sleeves. I them put the other sleeve round my neck and tie the sleeve together - a perfect sling. The pain eases in my shoulder and I am off again, only 37kms to go. The run course is basically a 2km out and back (4km) then a 10 loop with the first and last 2km being an out and back. The loop bit is through the university and very scenic (if its not dark!) So there I am walking along at a metronomic 10mins per km. I get lots of applause from the crowd and start to notice my feet are getting sore. About three years ago I tore my infraspinatus muscle through swimming. The doctor told me " what makes you think you can go from nothing to swimming 9km per week and not hurt yourself?" In a similar vein, what made me think I could go from sitting down for twelve weeks to walking 42kms and my feet not complain? Well complain they did, after about only 10km I was in real blister trouble, the sort you usually get from wearing high heals... So I am told, a hot spot on the balls of both feet. They hurt so much I am completely distracted from my arm! End of the first lap and I am in lots of trouble, I cannot believe that my feet may prevent me finishing after everything else. Time to toughen up I reckon, I keep pushing myself forward and as blisters do the pain turns into more of a burning feeling and become bearable. I have slowed to 11mins per km but am still fine to finish inside the cut off. Keep plodding along one foot in front of the other, thinking about all sorts of freaky stuff, is it possible that the volcano inIceland
So I am into the last 2kms and up pulls one of official vehicles with a camera crew in it! No idea who they were but I relayed my whole story and they got very excited, you can do that in 2kms if it takes you 24mins!
So I am about 200m from the finished and I dismantle my sling, throw away my 6 glo sticks and prepare to jog over.
The marvel comics have it wrong, it is not tony stark, it is me, I am ironman. 16 hours 18 mins, worth every second.
For those of you who do not know let me fill you in on my ironman preparation.
Actions and achievements leading up to Ironman South
Late December 2009 and early January 2010.
Rode up Mt Donna Buang twice in one morning
Rode nearly 800kms in a week, including round the bay twice
Pb in Olympic distance race by some 7 mins including a 45 min 10k, unheard of!
Swimming well at new squad with new coach, adopting total immersion swimming method had almost totally eliminated by back related issue - fantastic
Alpine classic 200k - more climbing than one man should ever have to endure, lifted my not insubstantial frame through almost 4000 vertical metres. Followed that two days later with a 2.20 ascent of Mt Hotham.
In the form of my life hitting all my targets, but then hitting a car. Oops.
Lying on the tarmac I felt my left shoulder as it was numb, collar bone, or part of it pointing directly skyward, the words that come out my mount to the guy who hit me? How the fuck do I do my ironman now? He looked bemused.
So to make a long story short here is the woman' weekly version of my 12 week journey from tarmac to start line.
First surgery to implant a plate and hook device which aligns my twice broken bone and totally destroyed ac joint.
After three weeks of enormous pain and non - closure of the wound (with phone calls to my unconcerned surgeon) discover my metal plate came with a free staph infection. Have had some minor ability to train on the indoor bike and elliptical trainer I hired, maybe 10 hours in the three weeks.
Second surgery, had lost all function in my arm due to the infection I did not know about at the time so freaking out. Wound is left open for two days while in hospital to clean the infection. Go home and on doctors advice stop antibiotics 10 days post surgery. The following day, total disaster, loss of arm function and pain goes nuts again; infection flares up so badly it ruptures the surgery scar. Phone doctor and am told he can see me in three days, I inform his receptionist that I can now see my implant and the scar has split, a space opens up in three hours. In summary the implant is infected and cannot be cured without removal, which can only be done in early may. I now have a new doctor.
I regained use of my arm to a reasonable extent three weeks before we were due to fly, four weeks pre ironman but 8 weeks of no movement had screwed the muscles of the shoulder. I could not swim or run at all as the imbalances and maltracking in the joint caused all sorts of pain. So me and my physio set about an aggressive program of him torturing me, slowly the pain reduced and movement improved. I did not go near the pool for fear of finding out I still could not swim; I convinced myself I was doing it to let my arm heal, that was a lie. I was able to cycle so accompanied Joey on some rides, up to five hours, so I knew my base fitness had not gone completely but the rides exhausted me. I then conducted a self imposed fitness test. The Friday before we departed I went to the pool. The deal was, if I could swim a bit (1km) I would ship my bike and hope for further improvement. I managed 1.2km. The bike went in its bag. Did I have any idea how the hell I was going to manage the swim or the run? No but after standing in my garage (gym) looking at my Port Mac medal I was working purely on either measured confidence in the past 5 years training or complete denial of the fact people cannot do ironman races if they miss the final 12 weeks of training. Let's pretend it was the former. I research the impact of doing ironman while taking high dose antibiotics, find one article on Google that says to stop taking them before the race, I cannot do this, the article does not say why to stop or what might happen if you don't. Must mean there is no risk then if nothing is mentioned.... Right?
Joey and me got to
I start the swim if I can swim one lap of the course the Friday before the race.
I start the second lap of the swim if my arm still functions!
I start the bike if my arm is not too sore.
I start the run if my arm is not too sore.
At any sign of infection flare up. Stop
At any sign of kidney or liver dysfunction. Stop
Any sign of unconsciousness. Stop. (Not really, keep going)
We aimed to swim everyday before the race, we arrived the Monday before. On our first trip down to the beach we met some
Next three days, all the usual stuff. Bike and bag check, lots of cake and coffee (our sa friends drink about 18 cups a day) lots of carbs and lots of rest, I felt my 12 week taper needed topping up.
Race morning, 4am start with breakfast being muffins and honey. 5.15 the guys pick us up to take us to the start, it is 2km down the road and calories are not to be wasted.
We arrive at transition and finalise our bike set up, drop special needs bags and suit up, all to the sound to Zulu drums, yes the kind that 100 years ago sent you looking for a friendly lion to dispatch you quickly, big booming drums with the entire town to send us off, no joke the crowd was massive. We say our good lucks to our new friends and head to the beach with 1800 hopefuls. Make that 1799 hopefuls and me, I don't know how I felt, not scared, not hopeful, very calm actually. Strange really. One final hug and kiss from Joey and the cannon goes off. Everyone runs for the water, I do not, I walk, I am not going to win and I cannot risk my arm taking a pasting.
I have decided to swim with a four stroke breath pattern, reason being that I cannot swim hard with that pattern and I cannot afford to stress my shoulder. So I am off, no pain, easy pace, breathe every four. Get to the first buoy; have caught a load of people who clearly see swimming only as a necessary evil and the water is pretty rough so causing some issues. I arrive at the same time as Joey into the mêlée of bodies and careful get round the turn, first person to hit my left arm will get my right fist in their head, I am very twitchy. Anyway no issues so head up the long stretch of the swim, some 800m against the current.
No pain, easy pace, breath every four graduates to some pain, easy pace breath every four by the end of the first lap, I am out the water for the short beach run(walk) in 37mins, not too bad, a 1.14 swim would amazing given everything. Back in the water and I am by no means last so feeling good but arm is starting to throb a bit.
Some pain, easy pace breath every four then graduates to pain, easy pace breath every four which by the last 800m transforms into oh shit, arm won't work, breath every two. With 800m to go my left arm was failing to get above the water on about half of my recovery strokes and it hurt. Not too much hurt but the poor muscles were screaming for mercy and I was not being merciful. Anyway, made it to the beach. 1hour 25, could have been a great deal worse. The arm felt ok...ish. One major problem I am hypothermic. And 18c swim in a short sleeve wetty is usually not a problem for me, I soon warm up by swimming hard but if you can't swim hard you can't warm up and I was shivering uncontrollable as I head up the beach. I grab my bag and head into the tent. My left arm is too weak to be of any use getting my wetty off so I get some help from the volunteer. They frantically unpack my bag for me; I calm them down by telling them I intend to have a bit of a sit down before heading on the bike. I have my cycle vest in the bag and put it on to help warm me up, get my shoes on and stuff my gels in the pockets of my sexy suit along with antibiotics, caffeine and panadol. I get to my bike, still shivering, me - cold - unheard of! I must be going soft or something.
So onto the bike, the course is brilliant, split into good sized sections that break it up. 13km of gentle climbing, 11kms of undulations to the turnaround starting with a 2 or 3km decent (60kph on my aerobars, thankyou), 5kms back on yourself then 5kms down to the coast through some nice towns. Then a long stretch back to town along the coast. Easy to get your head around I thought. So my race plan was to stay in heart rate zone 1 or 2. And that I did apart from on the first climb, allowed to get to zone 3 to keep a bit of pace.
First lap of the bike was great, warmed up thank god, took my vest off after the first go up the climb and tucked it into the bands holding my aerobottle on, felt very clever for thinking of that. Stayed on my bars for the whole first lap until km 54. Then, as you would expect if you puncture a tyre that is at 200psi, I heard a bang and a hiss from my back wheel. Arse. But hey that is why you carry a spare. I had a bit of a chuckle to myself, had to happen didn't it, my luck for this race is just not there. Anyway just as I finish changing the tyre the mechanic truck turns up. Thankfully they have a pump, I would ruin my shoulder trying to get the tyre to pressure. So I am off again, and cruising back into town. Sitting on 29-30 so very happy. The climb on the second lap is easy, bit of tail wind, notice a vast amount of people on very expensive bikes who are sitting up off their bars, full disc and all that and I am going past them. I thought I was lining myself up for a 7hr ride on a 5hr bike but these guys were truly taking the piss. Complete the second lap on 4hr 40mins or so, very happy since I was not pushing at all. Last lap - oh my god - there are people out here who have done their dash at about 130km, I had just popped some caffeine (and some antibiotics, right on schedule) so was feeling perky. I spend the next 40km or so just saying to myself repeatedly - glad I'm not you mate - some shocking states barely able to turn the pedals. I have not noticed my shoulder at all during the ride other than shifting up and down off my bars but I was in for a nasty surprise when I cruised into T2. I got off the bike and as is stood up fully I realised my shoulder was almost stuck in the cycle position and as it was allowing my arm to drop to my side the pain was pretty intense, like muscles were tearing on the way down. Not very encouraging. I manage to lower my arm to my side with the least amount of whinging possible and get along to collect my bag. I sit in the tent nursing my arm, it won't move and hurts like a bastard. I get some ice and sit for 15mins hoping it will calm down. It does, a little bit, I know I am not seeing any signs the infection has flared and I have peed about 4 time ( on the side of the road not in my pants by the way) so kidneys etc are all good. I think to myself, you cannot run with this arm, amputation will be tricky and you might not make the cut off if the surgery takes too long, but how will you feel in 8 hours time when the gun goes for the cut off and you know you can walk the marathon in around 7. So I get up, walk to sunscreen people and get myself sunscreen up.
I am on the run course and in big trouble. I cannot get my arm in a position that stops it feeling like I have a knife in my back, it is really bad. I end up with my arm tucked into my suit at chest level, like I am clutching my heart but on the wrong side. It hurts, I am not in a good mood. What the hell am I going to do. I try to get a sling at the first aid station but no joy. I walk past a bunch of younger guys watching, one of them says to me, "hey bud, that heart burn must be a bitch" all his mates laugh, I turn to him, take my arm out of the suit and show him the now bloodied dressing on surgery wound and reply, "not really but the broken collar bone sort of stings" he does not reply but one of the previously laughing crowd tells him he is a prick. I am not in a good mood I am going to have to stop and very soon. I have made it 4km and am deciding when to pull the pin, pain is too much. I decide I will at least wait till I see Joey and so I do about a minute latter, she cries and gives me a hug, she is flying and I am so proud of her, I see the sign for the special needs bag. I then use my entire allocation of inspiration for the next three years. I can make my long sleeve top into a sling! The big problem is I cannot support my elbow, so take the weight of the arm. I get my bag am pull off the side of the run. Get my top out and put my stuffed arm into one of the sleeves. I them put the other sleeve round my neck and tie the sleeve together - a perfect sling. The pain eases in my shoulder and I am off again, only 37kms to go. The run course is basically a 2km out and back (4km) then a 10 loop with the first and last 2km being an out and back. The loop bit is through the university and very scenic (if its not dark!) So there I am walking along at a metronomic 10mins per km. I get lots of applause from the crowd and start to notice my feet are getting sore. About three years ago I tore my infraspinatus muscle through swimming. The doctor told me " what makes you think you can go from nothing to swimming 9km per week and not hurt yourself?" In a similar vein, what made me think I could go from sitting down for twelve weeks to walking 42kms and my feet not complain? Well complain they did, after about only 10km I was in real blister trouble, the sort you usually get from wearing high heals... So I am told, a hot spot on the balls of both feet. They hurt so much I am completely distracted from my arm! End of the first lap and I am in lots of trouble, I cannot believe that my feet may prevent me finishing after everything else. Time to toughen up I reckon, I keep pushing myself forward and as blisters do the pain turns into more of a burning feeling and become bearable. I have slowed to 11mins per km but am still fine to finish inside the cut off. Keep plodding along one foot in front of the other, thinking about all sorts of freaky stuff, is it possible that the volcano in
So I am into the last 2kms and up pulls one of official vehicles with a camera crew in it! No idea who they were but I relayed my whole story and they got very excited, you can do that in 2kms if it takes you 24mins!
So I am about 200m from the finished and I dismantle my sling, throw away my 6 glo sticks and prepare to jog over.
The marvel comics have it wrong, it is not tony stark, it is me, I am ironman. 16 hours 18 mins, worth every second.
